


Life's a Circus

by nacibecca



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Trapeze, all my karasuno bbs in a circus, circus AU, idkkkk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-17 15:08:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3534014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nacibecca/pseuds/nacibecca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Because humans don't have wings, we look for other ways to fly."</p><p>In which Hinata goes to circus camp to learn how to be a trapeze artist</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life's a Circus

**Author's Note:**

> just a cheesy circus au. basicallyyyyy i have no excuse i just thought it would be super cute to see all the karasuno children flying on the trapeze

_"Because humans don't have wings, we look for other ways to fly."_

 

 

The first time Hinata saw someone fly was at the Karasuno Circus in his last year of primary school. The performers were high above the audience on a platform that seemed too small to hold them, supported only by iron bars suspended from the ceiling that resembled ladders. Their costumes were all black and resembled some sort of bird. The bar swung back and forth in the air several times before the first performer caught it easily.The performer was a slight young man with black hair, the smallest out of them all, but Shoyou couldn't help but fixate on him. The man gave a little jump, and with a graceful take-off the man flew through the air. His agile body cut through the air like a knife and before Shoyou could get a solid look at him, he had let go of the bar, twisting and turning. The performer seemed to suspend in mid-air for a moment, then the catcher grabbed his hands and pulled him down.

"THERE IT IS FOLKS! THE LITTLE GIANT'S TRIPLE TWISTING DOUBLE!! LOOK AT HIM FLY!!"

Shoyou felt his heart beating wildly and his eyes shined with excitement. "Mama, do you think I could do that?" He could see himself flying like a bird as the crowds gasped in awe and the announcer shouting "THERE HE IS! HINATA SHOYOU!! THE GREATEST TRAPEZE ARTIST IN THE WORLD!!"

His mother smiled fondly at her son and patted his curly red hair softly. "You can do anything you want darling."

And with that, Hinata decided he'd become the greatest trapeze artist ever.

 

 

 

**Four Years Later**

Hinata wasn't exactly sure he was really at Karasuno Training Circus. In fact, he was fairly certain he was not. No, this had to be a dream and he was dreaming and he'd soon wake up and realize that he was definitely not about to learn how to fly on a trapeze and he was not about to accomplish his ambition of becoming the world's best trapeze artist. Nope. He pinched himself to make sure. It hurt. A lot.

I'm not dreaming! he thought happily, looking at the grand red circus tent in front of him. I'm actually here!

When Hinata found out about the Karasuno Circus setting up a camp not far from his house, Hinata had begged his mom to let him go every day until she consented. This is what he had trained for. All those pull-ups on the chin-up bar at the playground, all the crunches and sit-ups and L's, all that conditioning. All for this day. He hadn't realized he had been gaping like an idiot for five whole minutes until a tall stranger pushed him out of the entrance.

"Excuse me." the stranger said coolly as he moved past. His austere manner radiated around him like a shroud and all of Hinata's instincts screamed "DANGEROUS."

Hinata shivered involuntarily before following the unfriendly stranger inside the looming red tent.

Inside was a bustle of activity. A bald guy and a shorter guy with spiky hair were doing flips on a trampoline in one corner, while a pretty girl with glasses was suspended from red cloth on the other side. A big, scary looking dude was holding a petite blonde up with one hand as everyone else in the tent looked on. And stretched across the tent was the net for trapeze. No one was currently using it, but Hinata hoped that would change soon.

"ALL RIGHT! EVERYONE GATHER UP!" bellowed a sturdy man from the crowd. He beamed at the younger kids who had amassed and were looking at him expectantly. "Welcome to the Karasuno Training Circus. I'm so glad so many of you were willing to waste your summer doing this. I am Sawamura Daichi. I'm a flyer in Karasuno's show, and also your head counselor for the summer. The camp director, Ukai Keishin, will be here shortly. Now, before we begin, my assistant, Sugawara Koushi will pass out name tags. Please wear them until we all know your names."

The gray haired man standing next to Daichi smiled pleasantly and said, "As Daichi already said, I'm Sugawara. I'm a catcher at Karasuno. Alright. I'm going to call out your name, and when I do, please step forward and receive your name tag."

Hinata spied the unfriendly boy from before as he stepped forward to receive his name-tag that read "Kageyama Tobio." It was a nice name for such an unpleasant person.

"Everyone have their name-tag?" Daichi asked. Everyone nodded in consent. "Great. We'll start with some stretches and then we'll do some floor exercises."

Floor exercises? What? No, Hinata was here for trapeze. Should he say something?

"What if we want to fly?" asked Kageyama Tobio, pointing to the net.

Thank God he said it and not me. Hinata thought in relief. Daichi laughed pleasantly. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you. But no, we won't be flying until after lunch. Today we are going to try everything to see what you have an affinity for, and then you can choose the activity you want starting tomorrow."

Hinata felt a knot of disappointment form in his stomach, but he supposed it made sense. He might like something else.

He did not. Acrobatics? Forget it, he couldn't even do a split.

Trampoline? Fell off doing sit-stands, which according to the tall smirking frecnh-fry Tsukishima was "the easiest thing you can do on a trampoline. How do you even mess that up?"

The Lyra wasn't too bad, but once again he wasn't flexible enough. And besides, it didn't seem as fun or as cool as the flying trapeze did. After the Lyra, it was finally lunch.

Hinata took out his bento box hungrily. He had never imagined that circus would be so tiring. He was halfway through when he saw Tsukishima and his freckled side-kick saunter over to Kageyama who was grumpily sucking his milk through a straw.

"Wow. Didn't expect King of the Catchers to be here." Tsukishima commented to Yamaguchi. "How surprising that someone as high and mighty as you has come down to interact with plebeians such as us."

Kageyama jumped to his feet in a flash and grabbed Tsukishima by the shirt. "Don't call me that."

"Hmmmm? So the rumors are true then. You don't like to be called King of the Catchers."

"Why not?" Hinata interrupted. "It sounds really cool!"

Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Freckles looked at him, shocked.

Freckles glanced furtively at Tsukishima and asked in a low voice, "You mean you don't know?"

Hinata cocked is head in confusion. "Know what?"

Freckles giggled slyly. "They call him King of the Catchers because he was the best catcher our age. However, apparently he can't match anyone anymore, so he can't catch. His calls don't come out right because he expects the flyers to match him. It's awfully self-centered, and he got kicked out of the last circus he was in."

Kageyama still held Tsukishima's shirt in his grip, but his face was paler than his milk. Tsukishima seemed unaffected by Kageyama's cold stare and just smirked. Kageyama then sighed and let go. "Whatever."

Tsukishima seemed to have had his fun since he had won and said "Come on Yamaguchi," and walked away to talk with the counselors.

Hinata could see that the dark-haired boy was shaking slightly, so he moved closer thinking that he might be able to offer some comfort. "Soooo, you're a catcher?"

Kageyama gave him a glare so cold, Hinata could feel his heart freeze over, but he kept going. "Why not a flyer? They look cooler. All WHOOSH and SHAAAH." Hinata gesticulated wildly to emphasize his point.

"Why?" Kageyama asked, incredulous. "Because catchers are way cooler! Sure, they're not as flashy, but catchers make the calls! They're the ones that are responsible for getting the flyer back to the board!" He pointed to the high platform where the flyers stand. "If a flyer doesn't catch, they have to climb back up, and that doesn't look cool at all! Plus, catchers are usually the strongest member on the team, and they have to be super careful with their calls so they can catch! The flyers, sure they sometimes get the timing right, but the catchers are the ones who have to call the flyer off exactly right, or they could go long, or miss, or get hurt! And catchers get to be on the bar the whole time! Without a catcher, there's no show because there's usually only one, but you can go on missing a flyer." Kageyama said this very quickly and passionately and was panting quietly by the end. He could feel Hinata's astonished stare boring into him and he colored slightly.

"Woooow! That does seem cool!" Hinata said excitedly. "You must be really good to be called the King. AAAh, I can't wait to fly even more now!"

Kageyama gave him a funny look. "Have you never gone up?"

Hinata shook his head. "Nope. This is the first time. But don't worry, I'll practice really hard, and you can catch me. We're going to be the best in the world."

"Idiot! You've never even flown!"

"So what? I'm probably really good." Hinata argued. "And who are you calling an idiot, moron?"

"You, dumbass! You can't just go up and be good the first time, it doesn't work like that!" retorted Kageyama.

Both of them were on their feet by now. Hinata couldn't help but realize Kageyama towered over Hinata, which was slightly distressing. "Oh yeah? Just watch. I'll do it right the first time, and then you'll have to catch me. So there!" Hinata stuck out his tongue.

Kageyama rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Fine. Do a perfect knee-hang, and I'll catch it. But then I won't catch again until you can throw a layout." Hinata nodded. "Deal!" He extended his hand. "Shake on it." Their hands locked and Hinata noticed how many callouses adorned Kageyama's hands. Those were the hands of a man who had spent years on a trapeze. Hinata couldn't help but compare them to his own, which were soft and unblemished.

Hinata walked back into the tent with a huff, but his mind was racing. Holy shit, what the fuck was a layout?

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA." a loud, booming laugh reached Hinata's ears. "Oh my god, kid, you're a riot." The voice belonged to the nasty looking bald man from the trampoline Hinata had seen earlier. "You've never been on a trapeze, and you said you're going to do a layout? Do you even know what that is?"

Hinata looked around the tent for an escape, but everyone was still outside for lunch.

"Um.. Of course." he said weakly.

"Ok, what is it?" The bald man came closer. His name-tag read Tanaka Ryunosuke and he was also much taller than Hinata.

"Umm... when you.... lay-out?"

Tanaka doubled over with hysterics at Hinata's lame attempt to cover his ignorance. "AHAAHAHA, you don't have a clue!"

Hinata felt his face heat up in embarrassment. "Okay, then tell me." he said crossly.

Tanaka wiped the remaining tears from his face. "Okay, okay. It's when you flip in mid-air. But sorry kid, you have to know how to swing first and that doesn't come easy. Maybe 2 months if you're really diligent. Sorry."

Two months? A whole two months? The camp was only one and a half! "That long? No way!" Hinata despaired. "That asshole tricked me. He knew a layout would be impossible!"

Tanaka slapped Hinata on the back. "It's alright. Maybe you'll actually be really talented and he'll relent. Oh hey, lunch break's over. It's time for your great debut."

Despite the disappointing news he had just received, Hinata felt a curl of excitement form in his heart. Or maybe his stomach. "Oh, I don't feel so good..."

"Nonsense!" Tanaka gave Hinata a shove to join the rest of the group and they all gathered around Daichi for instructions.

"First time flyers, stay with me. Everyone else, go with Sugawara and go do a warm-up swing."

Only Kageyama and Tsukishima went with Sugawara while the rest stayed with Daichi. A nice looking man named Ennoshita passed out belts and helped everyone get into them. "You see, when you first start out, or learn a new trick, you wear a belt and lines." He pointed to two strings on what looked like a pulley system. "That way, even if you fall, you won't fall into the net wrong and break your neck. I will be holding the lines, Sugawara will be calling commands, and Daichi will be holding your belt on the board."

Daichi waited for everyone to obtain a belt before he continued. "The first trick you will be doing is called a knee-hang." Hinata felt an electric current go through him as he recognized the name. "Wait for Sugawara's command. He will say 'Legs up' and you will bring your knees up and hook your legs on the bar. Then he will say 'Let go and hang.' Arch your back and wait upside down until Suga says 'Come back up and hang.' Then you will hang until Suga says 'Hup'. Understand?" Everyone nodded. It seemed simple enough but Hinata could still feel his heart pounding wildly. 

Tsukishima and Kageyama started to swing while Hinata struggled with his belt. On the trapeze, Kageyama was swinging gracefully. Hinata could see why they would call him a King. He looked like a crow in flight.He looked like a crow in flight. Hinata felt a pang of jealousy go through his earth-bound body.

"Anyone want to go first?" Daichi asked as he climbed up to the board.

Hinata volunteered immediately. He swallowed his bile as he ascended the impossibly high ladder to the board where Daichi was waiting with an outstretched hand.

"Hinata, wasn't it? Are you excited?"

Hinata nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"Great. Okay, I'm going to clip your lines on." Daichi explained as he clipped the hooks onto Hinata's belt. "Now, hold onto this pole and extend your hand."

Reaching out, Hinata realized his hands were shaking. He took a deep breath and grabbed a hold of the bar. Even with Daichi holding most of the weight, it was extremely heavy and Hinata felt like he was dangerously close to plummeting to the ground.

"Alright, now reach out your other hand." Hinata glanced at Daichi, who had firmly grasped the back of Hinata's belt and was leaning back. Hinata knew that if he let go of the pole he wouldn't go anywhere, but all of his instincts screamed that he was going to die. But he had to show Kageyama that he could do this and he had to let go to achieve his dream, so he slowly extended his arm and grabbed the bar. "Listo!" shouted Daichi.

"Listo!" returned Ennoshita.

"Okay, ready, HUP!"

Before Hinata realized what was happening, he was already off the board. He let out a little surprised yelp, but the feeling of swinging in mid-air was incredible. The air gently whipped past his face and everyone was a blur. His heart was beating even more than before and Hinata wanted to scream in exhilaration. He was so distracted he almost missed Suga's first command.

"Legs up!" and Hinata brought his knees to his chest and hooked them. He realized as he was hanging that taking his hands off was going to mean that he'd have nothing to hold onto as he swung through the air.

"Hands off and arch your back!" Hinata considered refusing, but he remembered Kageyama's promise that he'd catch his knee-hang if it was perfect and so he let go and arched his back as much as he could. His knees stung from clutching the bar tightly and Hinata's vision was turned into an upside down blur.

"Okay, hands back on, you're almost there!" And then it was over. The bar had nearly stopped swinging and Hinata was just dangling in the air, legs swinging wildly.

"Hup!" and Hinata fell slowly into the net. He looked around.

"Was I good?" he asked hopefully.

"You're a natural!" enthused Sugawara. "Why, I think you can catch your next turn, and that's very impressive."

"Kageyama."

"Huh?" Suga looked at Kageyama, confused.

"I want Kageyama to catch me. He said if I did a perfect knee-hang, he'd catch me."

Kageyama looked astonished, like he couldn't believe Hinata had actually done it. "But I'm not the catcher for the camp."

Hinata turned to Sugawara who was staring at the two of them like they were rare gems he had found one day on a walk.

"Please?" Suga looked up to Daichi at the board who shrugged. "Alright then, but just this once." Hinata beamed a smile that would have made the sun jealous and tumbled off the net.

Ennoshita had barely unclipped the lines before Hinata raced over to Kageyama. "SEE? I TOLD you I'd be good."

"Relax, it's just a knee-hang." Kageyama said, peeved. "It's not like it's hard."

"Don't be jealous Kageyama."

"I'M NOT."

 

 

Hinata looked across the net at Kageyama who was swinging to build momentum. When he built enough momentum, he dropped down so he was hanging then brought his legs around the wires so he was upside down. It kind of resembled a [knee hang](http://newyork.trapezeschool.com/images/physics/img21.jpg), but it wasn't.

"HUP."

Hinata jumped off and listened for the commands.

"Legs up! Hook your knees!"

"Hands off arch your back!"

"HINATA LOOK AT THE CATCHER."

"Gotchya." Hinata heard as strong hands grabbed his arms. Hinata's knees let go of the bar and suddenly he was swinging with Kageyama holding him instead of a bar.

"Ok, I'm letting you go now." Kageyama said and Hinata flew backward, pulled by the lines momentum.

The whole camp was dead silent. Then, Sugawara and Daichi began to clap. Tanaka joined in enthusiastically and soon the whole camp followed (except for Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, although he did clap a little until Tsukishima glared at him).

"That was a great first catch." Sugawara said, but his voice was a little strained. "But Hinata, next time, look at the catcher."

"But why? I knew he'd catch me." Hinata asked, his voice innocent and pure.

Kageyama made a choked sound at Hinata's statement. He blushed as everyone looked at him but straightened his back and walked over to Hinata. "Next time I catch you, you'll be doing a layout."

Hinata looked straight into Kageyama's navy blue eyes and saw a spark of something that wasn't there before. "You bet. And then, we'll be the best in the world."

"Together, we'll be invincible."

**Author's Note:**

> i really like this au but idk if im going to continue doing it. this will definitely not be a chap fic but depending if you guys like it, i might continue this au. lemme know :))) also, sorry if some of the jargon was confusing, i tried to explain as much as i could


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